AARL

Pacific academics and the internet

Jayshree Mamtora

Abstract A study was carried out at the University of the South Pacific to identify the frequency and type of use of the internet by academics at the university within specified disciplines; record perceptions of these users towards the internet, together with other demographic data, in order to identify barriers to the effective or more effective use of the internet and determine whether, as a means of overcoming the deficiency of distance, more use is made of the internet by academics at universities that are geographically isolated than by academics who are in large metropolitan areas. Questionnaires were sent out to academics at the university's three campuses and twelve centres located in twelve countries in the Pacific. A total of 143 (52.8 per cent) was returned, from all campuses and six centres. Data were analysed in 2000 and the findings and recommendations presented in a report in 2001. This paper presents the background to the study, including the state of telecommunications and the internet in the South Pacific at the time. The findings are summarised and the recommendations made in respect of access to the internet, training and IT support services are discussed. The progress made in recent years towards addressing the recommendations is described, and some conclusions relevant to academic libraries in developing countries are drawn.

The geographical area described as the South Pacific is all those island countries located in the Pacific Ocean, south of the equator. This includes Papua New Guinea in the west, and Pitcairn Island in the east; Kiribati in the north, French Polynesia in the south. Discounting Papua New Guinea with a population estimated at 5.5 million, and Fiji with around 770 000 people, the majority of countries and territories in this region are small in size and population. For example, the island nation of Nauru has a land area of 21km² and a population of 11 400; the Kingdom of Tonga has a land area of 747km² and a population 97 446. In the same way that country and outback Australia is characterised by small communities located great distances apart, countries in the South Pacific are separated by the vast ocean that surrounds them. But unlike remote communities in Australia, countries in the South Pacific do not have a large economy and developed infrastructure to support them. For example, Australia has a GDP of USD 400 billion and a per capita GDP of US$20 262, and New Zealand, USD 52 billion and per capita GDP of USD 13 692.[1] Contrast this with the average of thirteen South Pacific countries and territories (including resource-rich Papua New Guinea and New Caledonia, and subsidised American Samoa and French Polynesia), USD 965 million and per capita of USD 4277. Economies are dependent largely on the export of primary resources (Fiji, Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu) and/or tourism (Cook Islands, Fiji, Vanuatu), both of which are vulnerable to change.

Telecommunications and internet in the region

Given the geography and economy of the region, it is not surprising then that access to the internet was slow in coming. In part, this was due to the relatively underdeveloped telecommunications systems in most of the South Pacific countries. Whereas in 1999 just about every home and business in New Zealand was connected to the telephone network,[2] the number of lines per 1000 head of population in Niue was 540, in Cook Islands, 270, and in Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu just twelve lines. The contrast even within the Pacific region is as a result of the topography and, especially, incomes. It doesn't help when telecommunications masts and lines are easy targets for 'payback', as happens in Papua New Guinea. Nevertheless, there is an inextricable link between development and the extent of an information and communication infrastructure: 'statistical analyses of the relation between aggregate wealth and telephone density... [suggest] that telephone infrastructure is almost synonymous with economic strength'.[3]

One of the earliest attempts to introduce access to the internet in the Pacific was through the Peacesat satellite communication project administered by the University of Hawai'i in 1990. Complicated, slow and not always successful, it provided the first opportunity for selected organisations across the region to use e-mail, Telnet and Gopher services. Subsequently there were attempts to develop and extend this primitive system by using bigger satellite dishes and greater bandwidth.[4]

According to data presented in a Unesco survey carried out in 1999,[5] commercial development of internet services in the region began in the mid-1990s, and whilst not all countries are presented, internet services started in Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu in 1996, Niue and Samoa in 1997, Cook Islands in 1998, and Tuvalu proposed for the end of 1999. Almost all internet service providers are subsidiaries of the local telecom monopoly, which is reflected in the pricing, ie it is high comparative to Australia and New Zealand.

In the meantime the University of the South Pacific (USP) obtained its first internet connection through Waikato University in New Zealand in 1991. Whilst slow (9.6 kbps) it did introduce the university to the internet, and in 1992 the university was able to obtain its own connection and the speed increased to 19.6 kbps, which was to be shared by all staff. Bandwidth increased again in 1998, to 64 kbps.

The study

In December 1998, the author was approached by Peter Clayton, co-author of Academics online: a nationwide quantitative study of Australian academic use of the internet,[6] with a suggestion to carry out a similar study at the University of the South Pacific where the author was then employed. As described earlier, access to the internet in the region was starting to become a reality, and libraries worldwide were at the forefront of providing training to use it. The opportunity to carry out similar research on academic use of the internet would help the university library contribute to more effective use of the internet in the South Pacific region.

Use of the internet, and especially constraints to using the internet such as bandwidth and speed, were major topics for discussion in the academic community at USP. For most staff, there was no formal introduction to the internet, and initially no training was provided, access to the internet just happened. It became obvious that it would be useful to find out how the internet was being used and what academics, in particular, thought of it and their experience of using it. The study carried out by Clayton and his team suggested how this information might be obtained. Accordingly, in early 1999 the author made an application for funding to the University of the South Pacific's research committee.

The objectives of the study were:

• to identify the frequency and type of use of the internet by academics at USP within specified disciplines;
• to record perceptions of these users towards the internet, together with other demographic data, in order to identify barriers to the effective, or more effective use of the internet;
• to determine whether, as a means of overcoming the deficiency of distance, more use is made of the internet by academics in universities that are geographically isolated than by academics who are in large metropolitan areas; and
• to determine whether the perception of disciplinary isolation affects academic use of the internet.

At this point it is worth noting that USP is a unique institution, established in 1968 to serve the needs of eleven of the twenty-two countries of the Pacific region: Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. In 1991, Marshall Islands joined as the twelfth member. Three campuses make up the university: the main one, Laucala Campus in Suva, Fiji; Alafua Campus in Apia, Samoa; and Emalus Campus in Port Vila, Vanuatu. At the time of the study there were approximately 10 000 students at the university, of which 3500 were studying full-time, mostly in Suva, and the remaining part-time by distance. Because of the large number studying by distance, USP was a pioneer in using satellite communications for teaching and administration across all its campuses and centres.

Methodology

The questionnaire designed by the team that carried out the Australia-wide study[7] was amended as appropriate to suit the unique situation of USP. At the beginning of June 1999, questionnaires were sent to all academic staff of the university, a total of 271 academic staff at all three campuses and twelve centres. Reminders were sent out at the beginning of August 1999 and again at the beginning of November 1999. In order to avoid biasing the results in favour of those more comfortable with e-mail communication, the questionnaires were sent out using the internal mail system. The university extension mailbag was used to send questionnaires to those academics based at centres and other campuses in the region. Two follow-up questionnaires were sent out in order to ensure a good rate of return. Data collection was complete by the end of November 1999.

Results

Of the total questionnaires sent out, a total of 146 or 54 per cent were returned, but three were invalid making a total of 143 responses.

Of those academics who responded, 33 per cent were in the sciences, 27 per cent in the social sciences, 22.4 per cent in the arts/humanities, 6.3 per cent in law, and the remaining 11.3 per cent from other disciplines. Of the total, 10.5 per cent were professors, 6 per cent readers/associate professors, 26.3 per cent senior lecturers, 49.6 per cent lecturers and 7.5 per cent assistant lecturers. All bar 5.7 per cent were full-time. In terms of age, 7.1 per cent were 30 or under, 32.9 per cent were 31-40, 28.6 per cent were 41-50, and 31.3 per cent were over 50. In terms of gender, 64.2 per cent of respondents were male and 35.8 per cent female. The sample reflects well the ratio of male to female staff which is 70.6 per cent male to 29.4 per cent female. Responses were received from all three campuses at an average of 50 per cent, and from six of the twelve centres. The lack of response from some centres is in part explicable by the number of academic staff and/or by the mail service between the main campus and the centres.

The report of the survey was written up in 2001.[8] A summary of the findings of the study are presented below, against the original research questions.

Academic discipline and the use of the internet

The first research question asked whether the frequency and type of internet use differed according to academic discipline. Five broad disciplines were identified at USP: arts/humanities, sciences, social sciences, law, and 'other' which included distance education, academic skills, marine science, agriculture and engineering. Overall only small differences by academic discipline were noted in the frequency and use of the internet.

E-mail
Given that 69.9 per cent of academics used e-mail daily to communicate with colleagues on the same campus, there was surprisingly little variation in its use between the disciplines.

An entirely different story emerged when looking at the use of e-mail to communicate with colleagues on a different campus. Here the most common frequency was less than once a week, with a large number of science and social science academics saying they never used e-mail for this purpose, perhaps because they have few colleagues on a different campus.

It is interesting that only one arts academic out of the total number of respondents of all disciplines never used e-mail for communicating with colleagues outside the region. It was also interesting that the majority of all disciplines communicated by e-mail at least weekly.

Use of e-mail by academics to communicate with students, though not frequent or widely used, did not show any major differences by discipline. Most disciplines communicated by e-mail with students less than once a week. The only discipline where this rate was more frequent was science.

Table 1
Academic discipline and use of e-mail for communicating with colleagues on a different campus

Of all academics in the arts, 21.9 per cent used e-mail daily to communicate with others on a different campus (Table 1); the average across all disciplines was 12.1 per cent. The main reason for this was attributed to the regular communication between staff in the language and literature department of the School of Humanities (Laucala Campus) and their close colleagues at the Pacific Languages Unit based on Emalus Campus (Vanuatu). All law academics and academics in other disciplines used e-mail periodically to communicate with colleagues on a different campus. This was explained by the fact that the School of Law (Emalus Campus) had a close working relationship with the Institute of Justice and Applied Legal Studies (Laucala Campus) and with the first year law program which was taught at the Laucala Campus. Similarly, the School of Agriculture, Marine Studies and Distance Education (ie Others) and academic staff working at university extension at Laucala Campus had a close working relationship.

When considering usefulness, there were six activities for which e-mail was particularly useful or very useful: research and personal use (90.1 per cent), administration (88.1 per cent), community service (87.0 per cent), teaching (communicating with colleagues, 86.6 per cent) and publication (81.0 per cent). There was a uniformity across academic disciplines in perception of usefulness.

The usefulness of e-mail for other purposes (communicating with students, entertainment and community/professional service) similarly showed no significant difference by academic discipline. The conclusion was therefore that academic discipline played little or no part in determining the usefulness of e-mail.

Use of listservs

Of all academics who said they subscribed to electronic discussion groups, 51.1 per cent subscribed to between one to five listservs, with only a few (5.7 per cent) to any more than five (Table 2). All law and social science academics who subscribed fall solely into this category. Only science, arts and other academics subscribed to more than five listservs. There were no significant variations in use of listservs by academic discipline.

Table 2
Academic discipline and use of listservs

Use of the world wide web
The only difference among academic disciplines using the world wide web (Table 3) was that 75 per cent of all law academics used the web daily (the average is 38.8 per cent), and 15.6 per cent of academics in the arts never used the web (average 4.3 per cent).

Table 3
Academic discipline and use of the world wide web

There was only slight variation by discipline in the usefulness of the web for teaching, research and publication (on a 93 per cent response to the question). Most academics found it useful or very useful for research (96.8 per cent) with no pronounced difference between academic disciplines. Other activities for which the web was considered very useful or useful includes teaching (86.0 per cent) and publication (81.3 per cent).

There is no difference in use or usefulness of the world wide web according to academic discipline.

Use of library catalogues
Use of the internet to connect to library catalogues was answered by 96.5 per cent of respondents (Table 4). Few academics connected daily (2.2 per cent), most connecting weekly (31.9 per cent) or less frequently (29.0 per cent). A substantial minority (37.0 per cent) never connected to library catalogues through the internet. Among the disciplines, 44.4 per cent of social science academics said they connected to library catalogues weekly and 40.4 per cent of science academics never connected to library catalogues.

In terms of the usefulness of being able to connect to library catalogues through the internet for various activities - teaching, research and publication - there were fewer responses overall (average 75.3 per cent). An average of 69.4 per cent of all academic disciplines thought it useful or very useful to connect to internet library catalogues for the purposes of teaching, but of those who said they never connected (13 per cent), 42.9 per cent were science academics.

Table 4
Academic discipline and use of internet accessible library catalogues

Databases
Of the 95.1 per cent who responded, 44.1 per cent of academics never use the internet to connect to databases. Of those who do connect, the majority (52.9 per cent) do so once a week or less. Interestingly, given their enthusiasm for the internet as shown above, 55.6 per cent of law academics never use databases on the internet. Other than that, there is no difference by discipline.

In terms of the usefulness of the internet to connect to databases, a total of 67.1 per cent responded. Whereas 80.8 per cent of science academics and 71.5 per cent of social science academics found connecting to internet databases for teaching useful or very useful, only 35 per cent of arts academics did. When looking at the usefulness of connecting to internet databases for research, 55 per cent of academics in the arts, 60 per cent of science academics, 84.6 per cent social science academics, and 85.7 per cent of law academics found connecting to internet databases useful or very useful. The pattern was repeated for the usefulness of internet databases for publications: 25 per cent of arts academics, 50 per cent of science academics, 73 per cent of social science academics, and 71.5 per cent of law academics found it useful or very useful.

There were small differences by academic discipline in the frequency and use of the internet. This was most pronounced among law academics, who were much more likely to use the available internet resources than other disciplines, and more likely to find it very useful. Social science and science academics also comprised a group that was likely to use and find internet resources useful, along with the non-homogenous group, 'other' academics. Academics in the arts were the least likely to use or find useful resources on the internet.

Barriers to effective use of the internet

The objective here was to record perceptions of academics towards the internet, together with other demographic data, in order to identify barriers to the effective or more effective use of the internet.

Potential barriers or constraints to use of the internet were concerned primarily with the availability of resources (access to a computer), the system itself (bandwidth, reliability, etc), the skill of the user and level of support provided. It is important to reiterate that these data relate to the second half of 1999. Respondents were asked to state whether they had all the hardware and software to connect to the internet, whether they saw poor access speed as a constraint, and about the extent to which access was interrupted by systems errors or equipment failures. With reference to availability of a computer that can access the internet, 90.0 per cent reported having this access (Table 5), thus this was not a major barrier.

Table 5
Access to a personal computer, whether shared and whether have hard/software sufficient to connect to the internet

It was no surprise that access speed for the internet was a major concern with all respondents (95.1 per cent of the total) saying it was a constraint, and 73.5 per cent believing it to be a constraint often (Figure 1). Interruptions by systems errors were also reported by three-quarters of all academics. The frequency of systems errors did not appear to deter users nor alter perceptions of the internet's usefulness.

A large majority of staff (73.2 per cent) regarded themselves as being competent users of computers while 10.9 per cent classed themselves as being experts and 15.9 per cent as beginners. In other words most staff had computers, had access to the internet and were able to use them.

As would be expected, results indicated there was a correlation between competency and dissatisfaction with access. The more there is an increase in the competency, the more dissatisfaction there will be with the connection.

Having the academics self-rate themselves on their ability to use various internet services provided some interesting results (Figure 2). They seem to suggest that beyond sending e-mails and surfing the web, the academics do not use, or do not know how to use, other facilities on the internet. Anecdotal evidence further suggests that they are unaware of other facilities.

Geographic location and use of the internet

Table 6
Geographic location and academics who feel geographically isolated

Table 6 presents the results. As can be seen there is relatively little difference between the three campuses, but the centres are slightly below average (62.5 per cent compared with the average 67.9 per cent) in feeling geographically isolated. This is somewhat surprising. Looking at the centres in detail, a difference can be seen between academics in countries who feel isolated (Marshall Islands, Nauru and Solomon Islands) and those who do not (Fiji, Tonga and Vanuatu). The explanation probably lies in air links, and the civil situation in the Solomons at the time.

Table 7
Geographic location and academics who feel the internet is reducing geographic isolation

Comparing the results in Table 6 with those in Table 7, we can see that there is a distinct shift of opinion (although from a smaller sample) towards the view that the internet is indeed helping to overcome the problem of geographic isolation. It is particularly notable that the centres (apart from Nauru) and all campuses other than Laucala have swung one hundred per cent behind the idea that the internet overcomes what has been described as 'the tyranny of distance'. With the overall high frequency of use of the web (95.0 per cent), one of the reasons may lie in the belief that it helps overcome geographic isolation.

The question of geographic isolation is linked with access to information resources, ie the more remote, geographically speaking, an academic is, the more difficult it becomes to identify and acquire information. This was an important question to ask staff since USP comprises twelve island nations dotted around the Pacific. Of those who responded, 68.1 per cent consider USP to be geographically isolated from information resources and 31.9 per cent do not. And 65 per cent of these feel connecting to the internet is helping them overcome the isolation.

Perceived disciplinary isolation and the internet

A fourth question sought to determine whether the perception of disciplinary isolation affected academic use of the internet. Academics were asked if they considered themselves to be isolated from colleagues in the same discipline. The results (Figure 3) show that 56.0 per cent felt they were isolated and 44.0 per cent did not (on a 98.6 per cent response rate).

When asked if the internet had in some way overcome the problem of professional isolation, 74.1 per cent agreed that it had, 25.9 per cent that it had not (on a poorer response rate of 59.4 per cent). On the face of it then, academics were three times more likely to consider the internet overcame the isolation barrier, but the evidence was hardly conclusive. This contrasted with the very firm belief that the internet helps overcome geographic isolation.

Recommendations

The results of the study led to a number of recommendations, specifically to do with bandwidth, training and support services. Note that the recommendations were pertinent to the situation at the university in early 2001, and so there is additional discussion about the progress made to date, three years later.

Bandwidth

Without any question, the principal concern of the respondents was bandwidth. Accordingly, a recommendation was made that bandwidth be increased. In making this recommendation it was recognised that this was largely dependent on finances. The costs involved in increasing bandwidth to levels equal to Australia and New Zealand were very high and possibly beyond the capacity of the university. However, available bandwidth has been addressed at the upper Laucala Campus where it has been increased progressively. In 1999, at the time of the study, bandwidth was 64 kbps. In 2000, this was increased to 128 kbps, and in 2001, to 256 kbps. It is now 1 Mbps.

The university's information technology services (ITS) section have said that increasing bandwidth alone will not solve the problem. Although the intent was to increase the speed of access, the effect has been to increase the number of users which led to a reduction in the overall speed and thus no substantive change. Suggestions by ITS that use be limited to between 8 pm and 6 am while practical, was unrealistic. Limiting use would have defeated the purpose of the internet and would have resulted in significant dissatisfaction among academics. The same individuals who commented during the study that the best time to access the internet was between midnight and 5 am have recently confirmed that this might still be the case, and during these hours access speeds have improved. Individual staff have also queried why an individual subscriber in the United States can pay as little as US$50/month for 1 Mbps whereas the university reportedly pays considerably more.

There were three additional recommendations related to speed of access and bandwidth from the study. Firstly, it was suggested ITS collaborate with academics to cache on a local server internet resources required for students to complete assignments, thus reducing internet traffic. Secondly, rather than share the bandwidth equally with the university community, it was recommended that the bandwidth apportioned to the university library be guaranteed adequate, thus making access to information resources easier for its users. In recommending this, it was recognised that this would have benefited students using the library's Multimedia Room but not academics. Thirdly, at the lower Laucala Campus and for all the other university campuses and centres the bandwidth remained at 64 kbps. While the majority of the USP academic population was based at the upper Laucala Campus, it was recommended that the needs of the other campuses and centres ought to be addressed equally well.

Training

Findings from the study suggested a need for increased awareness by academics of the uses of the internet in addition to the world wide web, for example in the use of listservs, internet-accessible document delivery services and library catalogues. Training for academics on using the internet would help develop skills and increase awareness. It was recommended that the library, in co-operation with ITS, should actively seek a leading role beyond the library walls. In particular, the library should help academics become aware of and be able to use internet resources in their particular discipline. For example, only 62.3 per cent of academics used internet library catalogues at some point and that mostly infrequently, but of those that did, 66-82 per cent found it useful or very useful depending on the application. Appropriate training is likely to increase the number of academics using this type of resource as well as increasing the frequency of use, which will have a direct impact on their work. Whilst the provision of training would assist academics, it would have resource implications, such as the number and calibre of library staff required for this new area.

Whilst this study concentrated on the academic use of the internet and the needs of academics, the needs of students also needed to be addressed. Since the study was completed, the university library has been proactive and begun a consolidated information literacy program for its users. A mandatory training program has been put in place for all new students. However, assignments that depended on the internet were a problem because of the limited access on campus to an internet connection. Apart from the 10 PCs in the library multimedia room, access by students in the computer labs was only made available to students in 2001 and that during evenings only. When available, access was slow, hence the recommendation to cache internet resources needed by students.

Support services

In terms of support services, the study shows that only 34.6 per cent of respondents were aware that support services were available from ITS and thought them excellent or satisfactory, 8.7 per cent thought them unsatisfactory, 32.3 per cent were unable to judge and 24.4 per cent thought no support was available. Based on these findings, a recommendation was made to ITS to create awareness among academics of the availability of support services, and that the services themselves needed to be reviewed and improved.

Over the last 10 years the number of PCs available to academics at USP has increased dramatically with 89.3 per cent having their own, unshared PC in 2001. It was recommended that the type of support offered by ITS including hardware repairs, troubleshooting and general maintenance of computers should be promoted more widely. Provision of training in software applications to increase the competency of academics would pay dividends, and would contribute to the acquisition of internet skills. As has been shown, the more a user feels competent, the more he/she considers using the internet to be useful. The sort of training offered should include basic computer use as well as those topics mentioned above.

Conclusion

It goes without saying that since the survey was carried out the internet has become more prevalent in the South Pacific, and students and staff are learning to use it from a younger age. Information literacy, or acquiring the skills to be information literate, should not be neglected until an individual reaches tertiary education. In modern societies, as more and more information becomes available, the more complex it becomes to navigate. Thus the incorporation of information literacy skills training into primary and especially secondary curricula is essential, not only for learning acquisition, but also to enable citizens to participate fully in civic affairs.

On the technical side, addressing the issue of affordable bandwidth - an urgent concern for technicians and users alike - is of paramount concern. On the one hand, there is an appreciation that information and communication systems are essential for the small island nations of the region. In a report to Unesco, Hicks noted the 'crucial importance to the whole Pacific region of a good infrastructure of electronic connectivity'.[9] On the other is the apparent desire by governments to maintain the revenue-earning capacity of state-owned telecom monopolies. The outcome of this is that prices are too high and attempts by institutions to benefit, economically or otherwise, from fast, efficient access to the internet are thwarted. By way of example, an institution in the region has identified that it could markedly reduce the cost of accessing the internet by joining AARNET, and in the process increase bandwidth 100-fold, which will result in substantial benefits for its business and clients. However, the government so far has not granted its approval because it would mean the telecom monopoly, of which the government is a majority shareholder, would lose revenue. It is hard to imagine that the government in question can maintain this stance ad infinitum, particularly as it contradicts stated policy objectives in the area of IT, communication and education, but this has been the situation for at least the last fifteen years.

Alongside continuing efforts to create awareness about the advantages and use of the internet, and providing training at all levels and in all sectors of society, the decision makers in the region need to address the economic and political issues in a pragmatic and practical way.

Wider implications for developing countries

The findings of the study, while they have been obtained from just one, albeit unique academic institution in the Pacific islands, can be applied to developing countries in other regions.

The biggest constraint in developing countries, and the South Pacific in particular, is that the internet service provider is monopolistic, and often directly or indirectly government-owned. That is still the case in Fiji. Companies will inevitably charge what they think the market can bear, and where there is no or little competition, there is little inclination to bring down charges. Even in countries where there is some competition between internet service providers, the local telecommunications company usually controls the lines, particularly those into and out of the country. This is true of nearly all countries in the South Pacific (and Australia). Thus, even if an academic institution makes an arrangement to build its own internet network, it still has to come to some agreement with the local telecommunications company. And this agreement can incur relatively high charges, which reduces the academic institution's ability to meet its users needs in a cost-efficient way.

In most developing countries, the capacity of IT support staff to adequately determine the nature of the problem, source replacement parts and fix the equipment is not guaranteed. This is not to denigrate all IT staff in developing countries but to recognise that the extent of skills available is often limited, and the long or tenuous supply lines for equipment and parts, combined with the inevitable red tape, all conspire to impair progress. Universities as institutions are little different, although as they are likely to be educators of the next cadre of IT specialists, they have some inbuilt advantage.

Role of academic libraries in meeting these concerns

Given that academic institutions in developing countries are generally better off in terms of access to the internet than government departments and other institutions, they can and ought to play a leading role in expanding access to the internet, and in preparing people to use it effectively and efficiently. In this regard, libraries especially are critical players.

In providing a point of access to the internet, academic libraries are significant incubators of skills and experience for developing countries. Very often, they are the only place with reliable and generally freely available access to the internet. Thus the lesson to be drawn for academic institutions in developing countries, in contrast to developed countries, is that if bandwidth and facilities are limited, then better to provide one good facility, with support, than seek to distribute access to the internet equitably to all staff and some students which may result in low connect speeds and frustrating access, and limited learning opportunities.

One factor that needs to be considered is that home ownership of computers in the Pacific is limited vis-a-vis Australia, and that access to computers and the internet is largely an urban thing. The implication of this is that many students begin at USP without a good background in using computers. Few schools have more than one or two computers for student use, and depending on the school, actual contact time with computers might be very limited. Thus before teaching people how to improve their use of the internet, it will be necessary to teach them basic computing skills. Although it was a finding of the study that 73.2 per cent of academics regarded themselves as 'competent' users, 10.9 per cent 'experts' and only 15.9 per cent 'beginners', the author's experience suggests that the category 'competent' comprises many degrees of actual ability.

With the background of limited familiarity with computers in general and few skills in using the internet and its resources, one of the major areas that have to be tackled is that of information literacy. In Australia, it would be rare indeed if first year students were not introduced to information resources in the university libraries and on the web. In Pacific academic institutions, this type of training needs to be extended not just to students but also to academic staff. Apart from the need itself, expressed by the study's findings, information literate academic staff can help their students acquire the same skills. And the library ought to be working closely with academics to achieve this, for example in setting up databases of web resources, pulled from the internet and cached, which students will require for their assignments.

Another role for academic libraries, particularly in developing countries, is in an area that could be described as internet research. That is, research that considers access to and use of the internet in national development. One objective would be to prove that monopolistic telecommunications policies lead to high costs and, partly as a result of that, are a constraint to social and economic development, which is something small island nations in the Pacific can ill afford. With evidence for the benefits of good access to the internet, academic libraries and the institutions they are part of can play an advocacy role, putting the case to decision makers on the wisdom of policy change to facilitate greater internet access for schools, government departments and business. Within an academic institution, the library in co-operation with the IT section should be arguing for a greater access to the internet, and resources to enable it to carry out training activities and provide the level of support needed for staff and students. In this respect, the library needs to be proactive rather than reactive.

If the academic library is to play a greater role in improving access to and use of the internet for academics and students, then there are obvious implications for library staffing. It will not be enough that staff know how to access the internet themselves, but that they also have considerable experience in using internet resources and are able to extend these skills to others. It would be a good start in the Pacific if there were to be a major upskilling program, targeting staff currently working in academic libraries. In the longer term, it is critical that available library and information programs - those in the Pacific region and beyond - produce multi-skilled, internet-savvy librarians and information workers, together with a teaching competency.

Notes

1. Special Broadcasting Service World Guide 11th ed South Yarra Victoria Hardie Grant Books 2003
2. Zwimpfer Communications Electronic Connectedness in Pacific Island Countries: A Survey on the Use of Computers, e-mail and the Internet in Education, Culture and Communication Wellington New Zealand 1999
3. T L Jacobson 'The Electronic Publishing Revolution is not Global' Journal of the American Society for Information Science vol 45 1994 pp745-752
4. G Accasina, L Allinson and P Walton Proposal to become a PEACESAT hub site, submitted to the PEACESAT Committee by the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC) and the South Pacific Commission (SPC) Suva Fiji SOPAC 1995
5. Zwimpfer Communications op cit
6. A Applebee, H Bruce, P Clayton, C Pascoe and E Sharpe Academics Online: A Nationwide Quantitative Study of Australian Academic Use of the Internet Research series no 1 Adelaide Auslib Press 1998
7. Applebee op cit
8. J Mamtora 'Pacific Academics and the Internet: A Study of the Online Behaviour of Academic Staff at the University of the South Pacific' 2001 [Unpublished report]
9. R Hicks 'Electronic Connectedness in Pacific Island Countries' A report to Unesco Jakarta 1997 [Unpublished report]

Jayshree Mamtora, campus librarian (Palmerston), Charles Darwin University, PO Box 41246, Casuarina NT 0811. E-mail: jayshree.mamtora@cdu.edu.au.nospam (please remove '.nospam' from address).